Christian Bellini, P.Eng., FEC
Structural Engineer
Director, Engineers Canada
Vice President (2019-2020), PEO
Candidate for President Elect,
PEO
I am a practicing
structural engineer. As a Partner at my
firm Blackwell, which I have helped grow from 2 people to over 60, I split my
time between doing engineering design and running the firm I have a strong foundation
in both engineering and business. I also
serve on the Board of Engineers Canada.
I have spent the last 15 years volunteering extensively for PEO and most
recently served a term on PEO Council.
23 years of project based work has helped me
develop a strong ability to pragmatically lead teams, finding common ground and
building consensus without compromising basic principles.
I am
passionate about engineering regulation and - in particular -
about PEOs self-regulation model.
We have been rightly granted legislative authority to regulate
engineering in Ontario - as engineers we are best qualified to do this. However, we need not look far to see very
real risks to our self-regulation.
Proactively, we have recently undergone an external regulatory review of
our operations, procedures and our work.
The Cayton Report outlines a
number of recommendations which we are now considering. I have been directly involved in this work
with my continuous involvement with PEO and Council over the last 15
years. We have a unique opportunity to
broadly rework and modernize PEOs regulatory activities. It is critical that we approach this needed
change in a thorough, thoughtful and well resolved way so that the outcome is a
modern and effective PEO which is also able to nimbly adapt to todays fast
changing engineering environment.
Completing this work will take more than the length of one term of
office, so we must lay the groundwork now.
My broad experience with PEOs regulatory activities and my extensive
work experience bringing large complex projects to fruition makes me the most
qualified candidate for this role.
So what made me decide to run for Council
again? As an organization PEO faces some
current significant challenges and I believe my extensive regulatory and
business experience will be valuable in leading the way to the future. Some of the challenges are:
- A need to ensure that all engineering practitioners, regardless of
their field or type of practice, are licensed. While enforcement will always be an
important tool, increasing the real and perceived value of licensure will
have the biggest impact.
- Modernizing our licensing process to encourage more engineering
practitioners to follow through on licensure.
- Protecting our self-regulatory mandate by pursuing external
regulatory and governance reviews and acting on them to ensure that our
service to the people of Ontario is at the cutting edge of engineering
regulation.
- Working collaboratively with EC, OSPE, CEO and our other partner
organizations to ensure that we do not mix our mandates,
but cover all aspects of engineering in Ontario and Canada.
Education
Honours
B.A.Sc. in Civil Engineering with an option in Management Sciences, University
of Waterloo, 1994.
Career Summary
Blackwell
Structural Engineers
Senior
Principal / 2014-Present
Principal
/ 20082014
Senior
Associate / 20052008
Associate
/ 19982005
EIT /
19951998
University
of Waterloo
Adjunct Faculty
/ 2014-Present
Having worked at this firm for 24 years, I have helped it grow from two people in 1995 to a firm of over 60 staff members that provides structural engineering services on a wide range of projects across many building categories. Many of the projects completed by Blackwell have been honoured with awards in both architecture and engineering, and in my own portfolio I count several projects that have been awarded the Governor Generals Medals in Architecture. Additionally, since 2014 I have taught undergraduate structural design courses at the University of Waterloo. I am also frequently a guest critic at Architecture Studio Reviews at the University of Toronto, Ryerson University and Dalhousie University.
Professional Activities
Current
PEO Service
Experience Requirements Committee (former Chair, Vice-Chair)
30x30 Task-Force (Vice-Chair)
Licensing Committee
Advisory Committee on Volunteers (former Vice-Chair)
Executive Committee
Legislation Committee (Chair)
Finance Committee
Consulting Engineer Designation Committee
National Framework Task-Force (Vice-Chair)
Overlapping Practices Committee (Chair)
National Mobility Task-Force
Engineers
Canada Service
Director, Engineers Canada Board
Canadian Engineering Qualifications Board
Licensing Affairs Committee (Vice-Chair)
Competency-Based Project for the Assessment of Engineering Work
Experience
participated in various
stages of the development of this initiative
Canadian Framework for Licensure participating in this initiative
Community Service
Director and President of a student housing cooperative of over
900 students
Director and Secretary of Kindercircle
Daycare, Toronto
International Community Service
I
helped to form an alliance of four engineering firms in Toronto to supply 18
months of pro-bono engineering services to re-build schools in Haiti after the
earthquake. The work of the alliance included design to Canadian building codes
and standards, a presence on site during construction in an advisory role and
training of local engineers to continue with the programme.
This project won a Consulting Engineers of Ontario Award, an Association of
Consulting Engineers of Canada Award and a Wood Design Award.
I hope that I can count on your support.